Alter Counterpart
by MillianaFlamma
Summary: A tale of two lovers Nerve Jumping for their first time into the virtual realm of Guild Wars 2. One a Human Necromancer, the other an Asuran Elementalist, both realize that the game they once knew through just a monitor becomes more than just a temporary use for entertainment. It forges their path in finding each other through a tale of friendships, guilds, wars, and much more.
1. Prelude

_It is highly recommended to be laying down on a surface low to the ground before putting on the Jumping Frames. User should also be wearing comfortable clothing and the intended area of Nerve Jumping has a comfortable room temperature ranging between (60-90 degrees Fahrenheit) or (15-32 degrees Celsius)._

_There will be a small pinch when turning on the Frames. This will be normal and signals that the accelerons are connecting with your corporal data chip. If you do not feel a pinch please refer to the troubleshoot section of this manual._

Lightning blue irises steadily took in the text bit by bit. Atra's lean but nubby hands held the pages at half an arms length from his face, "To manually connect the Frames to your data chip please use the provided micro usb cable and make the connection between your Virtual Data port and the port labeled "Output" on the Frames. Manual jumping should only be used if the Auto Drive feature does not commence during the start up process. "

A girl sat across from him nodding in acknowledgment, turning the Frames over and over in her hands. "Joining the PCD rage might just be paid off with this device here." The device's main shape resembled a pair of sunglasses, too square and too thin to actually block out the sun, attachable earpieces on both sides and a small stylish strap for the back of the head.

_BAP!_ Milly let go of the Frames and grasped her head in slight pain. "Ow!" Redness in her cheeks drew out the puffy annoyed look she gave her assailant.

"The acronym is CDC, what do you think of when you say PCD huh?" He let his right hand poised over her head ready to give her another knock on the skull.

"Personal..computer...d..device?" Orange hair bounced free of her shoulders as she flinched away. "I know what CDC means! I just wasn't thinking at the moment..." She closed her eyes ready for the next strike. Instead she felt her nose gently being yanked away from her face. "Ngah!"

"Corporal Data Chip," Atra grinned ear to ear still holding fast to her nose, "now before we begin jumping into the game I would like you to read the instructions at least once. This stuff isn't meant to be played with by silly kids." He handed the one and a half inch thick manual to Milly. She took it from him reluctantly, opened it up to the first page and read through his fingers on her face.

_The Corporal Data Chip – the once highly secretive virtual technology – now mass produced by Google's newest driving slave force: Jumper. A game programmer and his twin neurologist joined forces with a group of bio-techs to create a miraculous chip similar to the size of the chips we place on animals to track them. It is surgically added to the skin in the back of the lower neck physically touching the nervous system and the brain at once. It does not interfere with your bodily functions, rather it acts like a new organ – it intercepts your nerve's communication to the brain and distorts their biological language into that of the virtual realm's. CDC then sends the new information to your brain thus tricking your body and mind into perceiving virtual reality._

Milly had to drag Atra to the local hospital to consider getting the chip implanted. Why wouldn't they? It was their dream of course! To live and breathe a different reality! Now its possible with one of their all time favorite games – Guild Wars 2.

Atra raised an eyebrow, released her nose and then patted her on the head. He then turned and took two steps away from her. Suddenly he felt arms around his midriff. "I read it, now lets jump already. I promised I'd meet with my guild this evening," Milly pleaded, burying her head between his shoulder blades.

"Ewwww! That roleplay guild you were so obsessed with?" He reached back wrapping his arms around her and stretched his fingers gripping her sides. "Mwuahah! I rather take you through the Ruins of Orr and greet Zhaitan as soon as we log in. You'll be so scared of the high level Risen that we will aggro and you'll start screaming, waking the death of us all up!" His fingers squeezed one by one unleashing a vicious tickle attack.

Milly squealed trying her best to get away from him as fast as she could. "Y..o..u.." she snorted, "YOU TRAITOR!" She managed to twist free from his grasp, bunny hopped onto the couch and stood dignified with two hands on her hips facing him. "I don't have to answer your whisperings, party invites or virtual poking if you dare to risk my life in such a manner!"

He stared at her, bewildered. "One, its virtual life. Two, even more tempting, its your Asura's life. I'll drag that ugly rat through every aggressive mob in the game if I could! Hell I'll even get the passive monsters to attack her too!" His lips curled into an evil snarl. Atra enjoyed seeing her fret, but the one thing he didn't like about playing with her was the silly race she chose. The Asura were hardly big enough to wield a one handed sword, in his mind of course, and their mostly bald gray heads creep him out even more.

"Oh get over it, you're going to have to put up with my "ugly rat" in a very realistic setting. I can't wait to rub my "ugly rat" farts in your face!" Milly crossed her legs and laughed. She then quieted and placed her head on her palm in a thinking posture, staring dreamily at Atra.

Atra glanced up at the ceiling while putting his hands onto the back of his head, "Wipe that stupid smile off your face, I've got a game to jump into." His tone was a serious one and he grabbed his Frames and the manual off the counter, "At least read the part that says, "Remain calm during setup and Jumping process, manually removing the micro usb cable link could result in mixed bodily signals. This will be natural and will only take a few seconds for the "nerves" to communicate correctly with the brain again. The Frames cannot cause nerve damage and have preventative measures when entering and leaving the virtual data."

Milly cocked her head to the side confused, "You just read it to me. But it was reassuring to hear it..." She rose, snatched her own Frames off the counter and turned to face the dark haired man, "I'm going to jump perfectly for the first time and you're going to fall straight onto your pretty little necromancer face."

Atra looked down like a wolf ready to pounce on its prey, "I'm going to watch you eat your own words, because you always, ALWAYS do." He grabbed all the papers that came with their devices' boxes, organized them by importance of warning labels down to the contact information and pushed them under his arm. "Lets go."

She refused to look at him as they crossed their home into the bedroom together. Thunder rolled in the background and rain tapped on their single window. Their bedroom light portrayed their shadows on the walls, slowly moving about in a romantic dance with the blue-gray figures. Milly shrugged off a deep orange sweater and snuggled under the blankets with just a tank-top and soft pajama pants. She sat up against her pillow, holding the frames close to her face and inspected them one last time.

"What's wrong?" His voice hugged her as he descended into the blanket next to her.

"Just preparing for it mentally is all. Super nervous." She nodded clenching a fist.

He flicked her on the head and handed her a cellphone. "I put it on vibrate, just plug it in next to you. It should go off in about an hour and ten minutes."

Milly bit her lip, eyes narrowed. "Yeah yeah, did you check the wireless portals for each of our computers?"

He nodded a yes and suddenly the thunder outside clapped extremely loud.

"EEK!" She cried diving under the pillow holding her ears.

Atra groaned and yanked Milly out from under the pillow all the meanwhile pulling her arms away from her head. "Stop that! You're suppose to remain calm remember?"

Salty water touched her eyes and then her cheeks, "Stop being so mean to me."

His expression softened and he took a hand and scratched her head with it. "I don't mean to be. You said before you wanted to be brave and be the best you could be, remember?"

She remained quiet for a moment, thinking of several responses all at once. Her emotions tying different meanings to her true thoughts but she cleared her throat and said, "I know... I know too well I said that. I'll feel more confident once I'm 3 feet tall and wield the power of fire and air. Then let a storm scare me!" She giggled at her own words.

"Irony." He said with his mouth twisting a bit.

Together they sat in silence listening to the gentle drumming of the rain. A few minutes passed, they looked at their phones and noted the time. "4:11 pm. I guess I'll be seeing you in game..." She said grasping the blankets between her fingers.

Atra unfolded her clenched fingers and weaved them into his own. "I'll find you and go on with my madness. You can't refuse me."

The corners of her eyes, lips and heartstrings pinched upwards in unison and she whispered to herself, "I don't think I can. I feel kind of bad for my character!"

She took a deep breath and pulled the strap comfortably over her head. She laid down on her side facing him. Atra did the same with his Frames, instead laying on his back in his preferred sleeping posture.

"Just a long freaking awesome dream..." Milly murmured clasping tightly to his hand.

"On 3..." He started the count, pointing a finger over the right side of his Frames.

"2..." She replied imitating him.

"1!"


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

**Part 1**

White, black, gray, then white again. Her eyes fluttered gradually open. Crystal clear light bounced into her pupils and Milly attempted to lift a hand to shield them from the anomaly. No hand lifted into her view. Startled, she attempted to look downward in search for her body but it was not there. Nothing was there. Just pure white space. This made her nauseous so she closed her eyes and felt for her body from within. She could feel gravity, herself, and a heartbeat; she could feel it all there. But when she opened her eyes to double check - she still wasn't visible.

'1 apple, 2 apples, 3 apples, 4 apples, 5 lollipops, 6 lollipops …' She counted and shifted her gaze across the white space. On first glance she wanted to interpret her surroundings as a desolate fractal mirror, but then her eyes adjusted to the crystal clear light and several ghostly, semi-transparent orbs popped one by one into her view. They floated without a care to each other with light reflecting off their sets of eyes - the human-like eyes that stared bottom-ward. Compelled by their undivided gaze Milly peered down into the whiteness too.

Warm hues of auburn, golds, emerald greens and a pthalo blue spellbound a terraform that slowly spun on a 0° axis below her. 'T...t..TYRIA!' She proclaimed in excitement hoping the orbs could hear or sense her. They floated without any interruption or hesitation to their silent unison. She stared ignoring them, and became mesmerized by the clouds that outlined the white void, the size of the world below, the true feeling of full immersion. Oh how she wished she could reach her hand out and feel the air that blanketed the virtual life in its sweet satisfying essence.

Milly could make out the stone walls of Divinity's Reach and just to its southwest a lucid purplish haze over Kessex Hills. 'I haven't seen that before...' She was notorious at map-memorizing, using any compass available to her and following her intuition right where she wanted to go, 'When I get down there I'll find out what that means, but wait! There's Ascalon the old city! Why is it so big?! It shouldn't be habitable… silly Charr, I wonder what they are up to…"

She watched a howling brisk wind scatter the overcast of Tyria, circled aimlessly over the Sea of Sorrows and then shot towards the white void's presence. It swooshed by and grasped her eardrums rattling them, pulling and begging for them to no longer hear its howl as it fought to remain. 'PLEASE STOP!' She cried in terror but no sound came forth.

'YOU! You do not belong here!' Milly heard a feminine voice called out. She squinted and saw an outline of a glowing human woman swirling within the wind.

'I don't understand! Why not? Who are you?!' She thought hard hoping her moment of courage could project her voice to the stranger.

'I can't tell you why! You have to leave now! Prepare yourself!' The outline raised its arms and Milly could make out long whipping hair reaching behind the woman as it spoke again, '"Wait! The only thing I can tell you is that as soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live. My nation will treat you fairly. Go with confidence child."

'That doesn't answer my questions!' Milly fought to stay focused on the figure but the winds ripped its glowing form from the white void. Almost instantaneously she felt herself dropping after her, the weight of gravity pulling her slowly. A glowing hand reached out to her and suddenly impaled her through her eyes. 'AHHHHH!' She screamed, frozen with fear.

With the momentum of a fired bullet, Milly plunged towards Tyria.

**Part 2**

"Beep. Boop. Bidaoop. Classified D.36 criminal is regaining consciousness. Commencing override of health-quad controls." A robotic voice sounded off nearby. She felt the right side of her face feeling something cold and hard. Milly came to slowly as her head pounded and her arms ached; she blinked a couple of times and noticed a black nubby hand up against a greyish transparent wall. 'Those can't be my fingers...' She felt for her hands and urged them to wiggle – the black fingertips responded instantaneously. 'No freaking way!' Her mouth pulled open and she felt her tongue roll out, "UNGH!"

"Prepare for removal of Classified D.36 criminal from health-quad and placement under secure watch within the stasis containment cell. "Disengaging locks." A metallic hand clanged against the wall just beyond where Milly's head laid still. There was a ding, clang and suddenly a clicking noise. The wall vanished leaving Milly sideways facing a 5-foot robot automaton that loomed within a few inches over her. "Do not attempt to escape captive, or we will take caution to eradicate you with the superheated matter purification beam." Her heart skipped a beat as the the hard surface tilted and her body fell to the floor – she expected dirt or cold aluminum but instead her knees hit worn warm glossy stone in the shape of a hexagon.

Everything seemed so surreal to her, even the two Asura Peacemaker officers who grabbed her by the arms and dragged her forward into a small square pit was all but a dream. But she could smell indistinct sweat on their clothes, she could feel their claws digging into her skin pressing against functioning muscles and veins. She could feel herself casting emotions towards the two, emotions of hope, fear and silent pleading that they would let her go.

She cleared her mind and listened to the world around her and heard a low hum that she could feel in the tops of her feet as they dragged; there were also so many faint voices that she couldn't make out what they were saying; a few zaps of electricity a bit farther away than them startled her. Milly sensed all these things but deep down in her gut she was certain that none of it was real.

The guards dropped her and walked away with steps in time to each other. She stared down, head rolling loosely on her shoulders; it was time she reached out for the small body she was attached to and familiarize herself with the game's virtual reality. Fingers tapped the floor, three toes on each foot responded almost rhythmically. Next came her limbs and they wiggled freely one at a time. She was delighted with her results and bounced upright to stand on two feet. Clumsy footing caught her and she fall back onto her bottom with a thud. "Oouuh!" Milly twisted her nose in a frown, disgusted that she couldn't speak nor stand correctly right away.

A bright purple beam hit the outer wall of the pit and engaged a force-field of some kind. She looked up at it and saw the robot from before standing a few inches from the purple radiating barrier, "Bweep Boop. Nourishment is provided once a 12 hour interval, other extensive inquiries, stable-line necessities or other inferior requirements are not acceptable requests. Bwoop! Enjoy your stay," The robot chirped. She half-grunted through her nose and thought, 'This is beyond silly...'

"You there!" A few-feet thick stone muffled voice called out to her. Milly rolled her, a bit longer than she's used to, tongue in her mouth, "Wha? Me?"

"A bit louder Asuran, I can hardly hear you!" It called again.

She crawled on hands and knees to the wall she thought she had heard the voice through, "Are you alking o me?!" Her cheeks flared with embarrassment.

"Do you have a elongated tongue or something, of course I am talking to you! You're the only Asura locked up in these parts! " The voice sounded like a hybrid between a wind chime and a young male child, "Now whats your name?"

Milly's cheeks flushed hotter, "Mi..." She stopped herself noting she was her Asura and not her real self and then spoke louder: "Echi," she sucked in her tongue to grasp her t's better, "Etchi, Etchi the Tactiful."

"Bwuahahahaha!" The voice laughed mockingly with an earnest soul attached to it, "I'm sorry, but that's just cute, an Asura with a name like that getting herself knocked up in the medical ward for who knows what reasons and then dragged all the way to the Asuran Capital's Jail?" The voice ended with a drawn out whistle.

"Kn...oocked up!?" Milly's eyes flew to her stomach as she stared at it with extreme awkwardness.

"You know banged up, tousled into the spires, or as the charr would say lose a few hairs off your sensitive spots." The voice chuckled.

She sighed in relief at it's statement, "So that's what you meant... who are you may I ask?"

The voice took a few minutes to respond, "I am a friend ,well somebody aspiring to be one. A Herbaceous morphologist with a polished history in the studies of Sylvari complexions. Alun is my name and I currently take residence in the cell next to yours."

Baffled by his ability to speak so thoroughly but still able to sound much younger than herself, Milly stared up at the stone ceiling in silent thought. She took in his words like drinking water, not even considering why Alun was on the other side of the wall. To her, he was marvelous – a painting, no, a story ready to be read if only she could find the courage to speak to him and draw out his life's story.

After what seemed to be several minutes passed, Alun poked her with more questions, "So what exactly did you do to get yourself in there?

"I logged in, saw some crazy ghost-lady and fell towards Tyria." She answered truthfully.

"What is logged in, Asura? Another one of your experiments gone wrong?"

Milly's expression scrunched her face into a tired look, "No...I'm actually a human who is playing an Asura... wait!" She stopped herself – she had thought the voice was another player. "Are you an NPC?"

"What is NPC?" He pronounced the letters like a child trying to read a foreign word.

"Non Player Character. It is an AI within the game that talks to us players either giving us quests, information, storage or other useful things." She mouthed off her knowledge with a cheerful smile.

"Well human wannabe Asura, I have no idea of the words in the common language you speak of, or was all that Asura gibberish your supposed lot tends to make up? Besides the point – you don't know how you got in here do you?"

An emotional, intelligent NPC who responds to her? Milly bubbled with glee! But almost instantly she grew solemn thinking about his last question. She repositioned herself to face the stone wall, pressed her palms on its chilly slate and then rested her forehead against it, "No... I have no bloody idea how I got into this mess!"

The sound of footsteps alerted her and she quickly turned about to sit with her back on the wall, one arm on the right knee and the other leg stretched out in front of her. Her insides quarreled to a degree. She couldn't make up her mind rather to be scared or act out her character's roleplaying personality. Was it an NPC? Or a player who was approaching her?

" Are you done blandishing your feelings for the abnormal juvenile greenery, you emotion breeding tyrant?" A peacemaker officer with the face of a heavy-set rat stuck her oversized nose through the force-field.

Milly, perplexed, opened her mouth to say something but the officer raised a hand and snapped her fingers, "Now, now you should know when to keep your vile unclean thoughts to yourself. If you had a brain like ours you would know better. Keep your imitation of a proper Asuran mouth shut if you wish to leave this cell anytime soon."

Milly nodded, not too sure if the ogre shaped Asura saw her do so as the ogress pivoted on one foot and commenced a march towards Alun's holding cell.

"And you there! Your meals have increased by one a day, only because Scralf the Innumerable current Head Master of the college of Synergetics believes feeding you enhancements to the cellular makeup of your unnecessary decorative anatomy will improve your growth patterns. If you will not comply with his experiment we will force feed you with other...ways. Now ignore this hysteria infected pest and think solely on your development in the future."

She heard a faint "alrighty" from Alun and the peacemaker left them in "peace".

When they both felt enough time had passed Alun cracked up a smile, "Hysteria? Emotions? Do they know your a human after all? HA! I hardly believed you but this is too much!"

Milly laughed a bit to herself, "I don't know if they know I'm originally a human. I'm not a human from this world that is... can your world perceive that my exists? Did the devs let you all have god-moding abilities or something? And what about the fact the ogre calling you juvenile? Are you that young?"

"Woah woah woah now, one question at a time! Oh and ogre is a wonderful name for the Warden of the Peacemakers! How original!"

Her face skewed with doubt to her "originality in making up nicknames". "Ok then, I'll ask just one: Can your world perceive mine?"

Before she heard an answer to her inquiry, something crackled behind her back and suddenly fidgeted out from within the wall. Thin green vines webbed along the stone, one point reached out to her and blossomed a light purple flower with sharp petal points. A sweet melodic voice came forth from it, "Its called a starflower and you can hear me much better, yes?"

"Your a Sylvari right? Yes! I can hear you much better!" She knelt before the flower, eying its presence in her dull cell.

"Ah you finally caught on bright one, yes I am a Sylvari. To answer your question though: I have no idea there was another world out there besides Tyria and nor do I believe that the Asura Peacemakers know more than I do about your presence here. Are you speaking in continental terms, being from the same planet correct? Or are you a being unknown to Tyria entirely? "

Milly thought hard for a second on how to answer him. Her reality created this reality, a far more complex theory than just simply explaining in the terms of space travel or portal jumping or even a simple navigation law between dimensions. "I do not know precisely on the matter myself, its far too complicated to describe my situation in just your common-folk language. I apologize for irking your interest though."

The flower petals ruffled a bit, "No its quite alright. I am glad to have met a mysterious human-asura like yourself; you are an anomaly that if one would be interested in, they would find great time consuming their pleasure in asking you more questions till you were blue in the face. Listen closely though as I have an idea, press the inner-side of your ear against my friend if you will."

Milly felt for her ears, remembering all too well they were an important feature of the Asura physical uniqueness. They were on the smallest side of the character creation scale, floppy but curled inward towards her face casting a "cute" appearance to her composure. She leaned in towards the flower, its softness tickled her.

"Now then, we are leaving these cells tonight, just before sunrise lights up the outer walls of the cube. I have a friend down in the Idea Incubation Lab. She's always lingering about there. Anyways she will disguise us and help us leave Rata Sum before the officers notice we're gone."

"How do we break out of the cells without notifying the golems or the guards?"

"Leave that to me - you just get some sleep. I don't know when you'll have the chance to do so again."

Sleep? Milly thought the act was unnecessary, wasn't this just a game? She yawned though, the feeling of sleep came naturally as it was to move her limbs and tongue to speak. "This is amazing..." she mumbled and crawled up in a ball against the wall. Her thoughts raced through many instances creating a daydream worth a sailing trip around the world and a tight grasp on an ice-cold beer.

As she laid there with her head tucked between her arms, she felt something vibrate against her temple. She looked down to find the source but nothing was there. "Alun, did you feel anything vibrate just now?" She questioned her companion.

"No, no I don't think I did. Go back to sleep. You're wasting energy."

She shrugged her shoulders and tucked her head, but the vibration went off again. Her memory finally struck her: it was the cellphone her fiance had set before they jumped. Tears dripped from her eyes and she hesitated to question her state of mind. She liked this reality so far despite her current predicament, if only her love was there to waste time in a cell with her. Then it would be perfect.

'Perfect...' she thought and then instantly her eyes flew open as she remembered that she was in a video game and could, in theory, contact him. She fidgeted about till she sat up and looked around herself in all directions. But where was her User Interface? The large red health orb was no where in sight, her Elemental skills were missing too and there was no sign of a virtual button to open windows with. She attempted to thought "touch" what she knew as the interface within the original guild wars 2, hands motioned in front of her face where she thought it was, but nothing responded. "Social, Bags, Inventory, Guild, Trading Post..." she whispered commands one after the other; again nothing responded.

Her instincts took over and Milly curled up into a ball. 'What's happening to me? Where are you luvin?!' Fear stricken Milly sobbed quietly, remembering not to alarm her companion, "Atra...no.." she thought of his in game name, "Erebos. Where are you?"


End file.
